Absolutely obsolete

Recently, I attempted to organize the stashed clutter that’s been hanging out in my cabinet for the last couple of years. It was an enormous task, but a job that had to be done, lest I be banished for life by the "man of the house" – my wife. At any rate, I think it was about time anyway.

I really didn’t know how to start initially, but as I went about it, I started segregating the items into two piles. One pile was for items that have outlived their storage value and are things that I could live without. The other pile was for junk which I feel still deserved another year’s worth of dust before they are finally heaved into the fiery furnace and the Great Beyond. One of the items that I put in this latter pile was an old comic book that I had when I was a kid. I browsed through it, and I smiled as I re-read the cartoon strips that I used to find really funny.

As I went through it, I saw this was one particular cartoon strip that made me pause for a while. I remembered this particular one because it was the one strip that I didn’t particularly understand at that time. It showed a kid asking his father a very serious question, "Dad, what’s ‘planned obsolescence?’" The father of the kid dramatically replied with an angry face and his fist swirling in the air, "It’s a diabolical scheme, son – designed by greedy enterprises to manipulate the innocent buying public’s mind. These selfish, blood-sucking conglomerates deliberately manufacture inferior products with a set life span in order to perpetuate demand for their goods."

The boy was stunned with the answer and thought deeply for awhile. Out of nowhere, an old man passed by and the boy just stared at him, thinking intently. And then, hit with a sudden realization, the boy exclaims, "Oh, I get it! Planned obsolescence is how God creates people!"

Obsoletely True

As I mentioned earlier, I really didn’t get the punch line of that cartoon strip back when I was a kid. But when I read it again recently, I understood the humor behind it. Beyond the punch line, however, I also realized that there was some truth in the innocent statement of that kid in the strip.

Of course, I don’t really subscribe to the idea that God purposely made us of inferior quality and with a pegged life-span in order for him to perpetuate a diabolical, selfish scheme. Neither do I believe that we were created by Him just for kicks. I don’t think that that’s the whole philosophy behind our existence. I do believe, however, that each of us was created to be given a chance – and a specific time frame – to do a particular job here on earth before we eventually become obsolete and get replaced by fresh new people who, in turn, will have their own chance and time frame.

Recently, I attended our annual corporate planning session. A lot of important business matters came up – but one of the more interesting topics for discussion was our target market: the youth. As we discussed the youth market extensively, I realized just how different today’s young people think compared to the way I think. Until recently, I felt that I was still very young, both in heart and in mind. After all, I work for a music channel and I could still keep up with the latest musical trends, which is a passion for most young people. But in that session, I came to realize there are just a lot of things that differentiated me from the youth of today. For one, the youth don’t remember a world with only five TV channels. That would be unthinkable for today’s youth. Also, they don’t recall a time when there were no ATMs. Which is weird because to me, ATMs are a fairly new development. The youth of today are not afraid of technology or complicated electronic products that come out every day. In fact, not only are they not afraid – they totally embrace it. To them, change is staple food, not a special meal that comes every so often. Change and new things are part of their daily lives and it is totally expected. Whereas I might try to hold on to my mobile phone for as long as I can (because I have already familiarized myself with all its functions), young people would not mind changing cell phones every week if only to find out the latest function incorporated in the phone.

I used to feel that I was in the "game," a major player. Now, however, I am beginning to feel the pressure of being eased out of my spot, with the new generation telling me gently, "Move over, old man. It’s our turn now." I was used to the idea of showing the way – being the lead car in the race. All of a sudden, I feel like I’m always lagging behind, trying to keep pace.

Speaking of cars, Jack Madrid, our MD, and myself recently met with Volvo’s president and vice president Albert Arcilla and Lyn Manalansang-Buena, respectively. The meeting was timely in a way because I was going through this philosophical phase just as Volvo was emerging with a fresh, youthful marketing campaign with us. As most people know by now, Volvo and MTV recently entered into a partnership, and we announced this partnership by launching a Volvo VJ car (a V50 decaled with the MTV logo and cool trimmings). A lot of people were surprised with that launch. They didn’t expect that a Volvo can be dressed up that way – i.e., the MTV way. It was a paradigm shift for Volvo. A shift that the cool young set totally loved.

"There’s no question about it," Albert said, " the new generation of youth have a greater influence now in purchases made by adults – including cars. That’s why this partnership works for us!" And it’s amazing. As cool a brand as Volvo is, their management still feels the need to continue "re-inventing the wheel" and appealing to the new generation. The four of us talked about how powerful the new generation has become and how we, the adults, seem to have been relegated to become mere observers of the new world order. We amused ourselves on how different things were 15 to 20 years ago when we didn’t have cell phones, there was no cable channel, and music was still analog. And we started reminiscing. And I thought to myself, "Isn’t this what old people do? Reminisce? Dang!"

Recently, I read the text of Apple Founder Steve Jobs’ commencement speech to the graduates of Stanford. Jobs relayed his roller coaster career, how seemingly small insignificant events when he was a college drop-out eventually made a big impact in his success, his meteoric rise, his fall from grace, and his recent battle with cancer that changed his perspective in life. He said something that really made an impact on me:

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share.

"No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

So the bad news for all of us is this: we will all become obsolete. It’s an absolute fact. Some of us earlier than others.

But here’s the good news: as long as you’re alive and still able to read this, you’re not totally obsolete. And you could still live your life. Your life, and not someone else’s. And as Steve Jobs said, just follow you heart and intuition.

More often than not, they are right.

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Thanks for all your letters! You may e-mail me at rodnepo@yahoo.com.